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2015 Orioles Thread - DEAD & BURIED Topic

You O's fans should just quit finding reasons to complain. I mean, face it.......this team has WAY overachieved for a season and 1/4 now and they actually look like they might keep it going this year. Showalter was obviously trying to send Gonzales a message. That being, 5 innings isn't really good "enough". You've got to, at some point, learn to pitch when you've got no gas left in the tank. I think Buck was just trying to teach the kid how to pitch in that situation. I mean, it's May ******* 2nd guys, give Buck a break. And as for Jones, you've got a valid point about his "bad" plays, but again, maybe cut him some slack. He's really been tremendous for the O's, hasn't he??? I don't watch this team everyday by any means and I only see them on highlights, but I'm starting to become a believer to a certain degree. They just keep winning when I don't think they have enough talent to do so.

Posted by Jtpsops on 5/1/2013 10:54:00 PM (view original):Someone needs to grow some balls and put Jones in his place. Because he tries hard and has talent, he seems to be given a free pass for his bonehead plays. That's the third time this year he's taken a terrible route to a ball and ended up trying to reach back behind his head to make the catch, only to have the ball bounce off/out of his glove.

His plate discipline is infuriating too. You can tell he's adapted to that outside breaking pitch - he's always leaning in and looking for it now. The problem is that he still flails at it anyway. Here's a thought Adam - if you know the pitch is going out there, how about you let it go for a ball instead of trying to prove you're good enough to hit it?

Jones is a really good ballplayer. He could be one of the best in the league if he had a mature head on his shoulders.

Does we know that AJ plays hard or do we just say he does because he talks the talk? He's always talking about giving 100% on Twitter and in interviews but when you watch him everyday, things don't seem to match up. Coasting to fly balls, not running out grounders and not being able to lay off the low and away slider are bits of evidence against his constant "#StayHungry" campaign.

Originally I thought that his impeccable athleticism caused people to think he was loafing because he made the tough plays look so effortless. Over the years I've started to question that as it appears that AJ can, at times, be more concerned with looking cool than making plays.

Living in the Baltimore/DC area I know for a fact that Bryce Harper plays hard every time he takes the field. Comparing Harper and AJ from an effort standpoint isn't even close IMO. So I don't think we can say for a fact that AJ tries hard every play of every game and as fans we need to pay all of our attention to his actions on the field instead of listening to his constant barrage of apologies and tweets about what he's planning on doing.

Posted by Jtpsops on 5/5/2013 9:26:00 PM (view original):7-4 western road trip (should have been 8-3) - can't ask for much better. Probably the best series the O's have had in both LA and Oakland in years. Glad it's out of the way early.

They got a free win from Hanrahan's @ss suckage, so shove the "shoulda wons", *****

I'm with diggin', I don't think Jones has put in the time in the cages to work on his pitch recognition, I don't think he puts in the time on gameplan and watching film that a lot of other guys do, and I don't think he runs out ground balls. I don't know why anyone would think he's a high-effort player, my impression has always been the opposite.

I'm tempted to disagree. There are times it looks like Jones is recognizing that low and away slider - he follows it with his eyes and bat. It looks like he just swings anyway, like he's trying to prove he can do something with it when he clearly can't.

The fact that its been 4 years and he still does the same thing is bothersome. He's improved slightly but man is that frustrating to watch. I think him not running out grounders and lazy OF play are worse offenses though because those are much easier to correct.

Posted by diggin4third on 5/8/2013 8:04:00 AM (view original):The fact that its been 4 years and he still does the same thing is bothersome. He's improved slightly but man is that frustrating to watch. I think him not running out grounders and lazy OF play are worse offenses though because those are much easier to correct.

It's frustrating because we know he's capable of better - but he's still a good player that I want on my team.

Johnson blows another one and the O's streak of winning when leading after 7 comes to a crashing halt at 109.

I like Johnson and still have confidence in him, but when he has bad days, he REALLY has bad days. I understand he's the closer and Buck needs to have faith in him, but with his control issues lately, I wouldn't have left him in to give up that 2-run double that put the O's behind 7-6.

I honestly think it's in his head right now. In his last few rough outings, guys have gotten on (whether it's bloop singles or Johnson's HR today) and he seems to start overthrowing or getting too fine so he doesn't lay anything in the zone. But as a sinkerballer, you have to get your pitches over. Hopefully Adair and Wieters can work with him and get him back on track. He hit a brutal patch last year around the all-star break and really finished strong, so I don't think there's anything to worry about.

This team needs better starts from their pitchers, obviously, but they also need to put teams away. Leading 4-0 after 1 inning and they only finish with 6 runs? Not gonna cut it, especially against teams in the AL East.

The O's bullpen was spectacular last year. I didn't expect that level of production to continue, but now it's become their biggest weakness. And Hunter, the only consistently dominant performer this season and best option to replace JJ as closer, may have just broken his hand on a gutsy play that went for nothing when JJ gave up 4 in the ninth.

Johnson had good movement on his pitches today, but he looks like he's pitching with fear of giving up runs now - he got dissected by some really weak hitters, like DeRosa and Kowasaki. Time to put him on the DL and give him some time to clear his head.

Great series against Washington. Johnson is attacking hitters again, as opposed to pitching with fear of giving up the big hit. Freddy Garcia was dominant - not a performance I ever expected from him again, but awesome nonetheless. And when we needed it most, as the O's could not figure out Haren.

Gausman still taking his lumps, but once he learns to control that fastball and tighten up his slider, he's going to be something special.